Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

If we are to raise living standards, pay and conditions are only part of the solution. The Government has broadened the tax base and put it on a sustainable foundation in order that there will be no repeat of the collapse of the public finances that occurred when the crisis struck. That work will gradually allow us to reform the income tax system for low and middle income workers, the people who often have to cope with everything, to reduce the amount they pay and allow them to share in the recovery. This is in keeping with the work the Government has already done in removing 330,000 low paid workers from the universal social charge net.

Building social recovery for workers and their families also means building homes for them in which to live. We have moved from a situation where we were building far too many houses in the wrong areas to one where we are building far too few in the right areas, particularly in Dublin.

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